Cleverley: Playing Alongside Scholesy Is Every Young Lad's Dreams

July 22, 2010

Tom Cleverley, who has impressed on the pre-season so far, reckons he is living the dream getting to play alongside the likes of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.

“Playing for United and alongside someone like Scholesy is what every young lad dreams of,” Cleverley said. “He’s a great mentor for me – I look to him every day in training and he’s definitely someone I can learn a lot from. The likes of Scholesy and Giggsy always have a picture in their heads about what they want to do with the ball and their first time passing is second to none. The way they go about training and matches means they’re two of the best in the world to learn from.”

Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken in praise of Cleverley and suggests he may spend next season on loan.

“Tom is a very talented boy,” said Ferguson. “He is going to be a very good footballer. We are also considering putting him on loan to a premier division team. He improved tremendously in his spell at Watford last year. He got an unfortunate injury towards the end of last season and was out for a long time. He has just come back and can play anywhere in midfield, which is always an advantage.”

Oh I do hope we don't send him out on loan. He's been on loan twice, has progressed well and looks ready for the first team now imo. He'll benefit hugely from playing alongside Scholesy and Giggsy more often if he stays at Utd - and can take Hargo's place in the 25 man squad now that we know he won't be part of our plans next season. If Fergie does decide to loan him then maybe that means a CM is coming in...

I had a feeling that Celeverly may be sent out on loan. So much for him staking a claim for his place. When a player who plays in an attacking position I always view it with trepidation as theres a very good chance he won't play for the club. Hope this isn't the case because if we have an injury hit season we could do with back ups like him. If he does go out on loan don't send him to a side thats going to be battling relegation all season. Same goes for Welbeck too. Stoke would be a good club for Welbeck to go out on loan too. Don't see that happening though.l

I think Possebons had it to be honest. When he broke though I certainly rated him but the termination of his loan spell in Portugal without so much as a whisper to why (unless you dig for it) signals the end for me. Perhaps he isn't the same player after the Pogatez tackle.

I didn't get to see the match in Philadelphia but I was happy to eat some crow about Cleverley's performance - even if I did say that he was unconvincing and that he would need to do better which isn't exactly "slamming" the kid just stating the obvious that he has a long, long way to go before he can be considered first-team material. The last step is often the biggest and the most difficult for highly-celebrated youngsters - the same appears to be the case with Cleverley and Welbeck. So, it was good to hear that they were impressive (even considering the opposition) - a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

I wouldn't be too concerned if Welbeck went out to, say, Sunderland, and Cleverley was kept as a midfield back-up for when the others need rest as United field-time is invaluable, as is Premier League experience which he may get more of at another club. Regardless, I want to see the lad play more and get a feel for what's expected and the pace of the game at the top.

Cleverly is being sent out on loan this time around as well. There is talk of youth, but where's the youth coming through the midfield? Gibson will get more games but he is still developing. Ando has been injured, Hargo seems to have had another setback. Cant expect more from Scholesy and Giggsy. Carrick has been average for the last 2 years. Fletch is the only potent midfielder. We said this last year as well that the midfield lacks quality and sure we finished a point behind Chelsea. But honestly, the level of football last year was appalling at times. We could have gone for a midfielder and let go of Carrick. Dont see that happening though. Worried about this upcoming season.

Why does Fergie keep loaning our young hopefuls out? I know everyone points at Beckham's case. But I can't remember Giggsy or Scholesy getting loaned out. Brown, O'Shea, Fletch? Any of them get loaned out? I think Cleverly should stay with the squad and do his apprenticeship under Scholesy Wan-Kenobi.

I wouldnt loan welbeck or cleverly, brilliant players to have on the bench. I'd loan Kiko out though, last season he was fairly average and so far he just hasn't been with it for some reason, he just doesnt look a threat, he needs regular first team football to develope into the player we all hoped he'd be after his first season

As far as I can remember and what I have read in Manchester Books and Blogs like this what Tom says regards the learning curve and feeding of the more mature players at the club is the United way.
Exactly what Sir Alex says regards sending Tom to a premiership club makes sense rather than a Championship club.But maybe his time has come to finally crack it , I hope so.
I argued tooth and nail on another site about sending Gabriel to Glasgow Rangers, what's the point in his development, its not going to test him and bring him on is it!
I think overall the youngsters last night ,all of them looked in the right place to grow.Fabio on reflection for me was just excellent.
Away to review the Celtic match again on MUTV, how sad! lol

Giggs and Scholes were, at 20, vastly superior to Welbeck and Cleverley at the same age - indeed, only a dreamer would think that these two kids can be anywhere near as good as Giggs and Scholes who are, in the truest sense of the word, UTDlegends. The other three were kept around because they were useful squad players providing depth and versatility. Injuries aside, Wesley Brown and John O'Shea have been very valuable squad players for the past decade. Darren Fletcherinho was always very highly regarded but was unlucky with injuries - as he's matured, Fletcherinho has matured into a "football genius". I doubt that either Welbeck or Cleverley will reach his level but you never know, eh ?

On a totally different subject, Forbes Magazine has argued that Manchester United FC are the most valuable/wealthiest professional sports team in the world whose estimated value is 1,800,000,000 dollars. I think that Forbes' assessment has to be taken into account when considering the debt and the Glazers' ownership. And, in particular, it has to be taken into account when considering the ludicrous suggestions that SAF can't "afford to spend".

The failure to grasp the elementary fact that debt is almost always on one side of the ledger in a capitalist business operation is shocking and naive. The issue that keeps capitalist operations alive is not their debt load but their ability to finance that debt - and one would think that the speed with which UTD 504 million pound bond issue sold out would provide solid evidence that investors think that the level of debt that the Glazers have created is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. Whoever wants to buy UTD would probably have to pay close to two thousand million dollars - or two billion if you use American-style calculations; that's about one thousand three hundred million quid at today's rate of exchange - give or take a hundred million !